Sunday, June 7, 2009

ROBOBURGH - PART THREE - INDUSTRY

I forgot to include this disturbing triptych from the last blog (Part Two - Carnegie Art and Natural History Museums). The author (me) makes a rare appearance on the left, and that's Sophocles on the right. When I think of my work in the presence of his formidable likeness and take a calm moment to draw a comparison, what comes to mind is ... wow my nose is a lot bigger than his.

Pittsburgh earns Roboburgh as one of its many nicknames from the industry that took off after the oil, steel, and railroad-based industries collapsed. Many robotics companies grew up here including the fantastically named Applied Perception, founded by Carnegie grads in 2001. I left Pittsburgh last week to make a loop into the south but I'll be going back through for a show at the Carnegie Science Center called ROBOWORLD, opening June 13th, on my way to Toronto. Roboburgh - Part Four will come after WV, VA, DC, MD, DE, NJ, PA, and I think that's it, it's all going very fast.

Took a trip inside the Andy Warhol Museum to catch the flick, Viva!, a sexploitation homage which was a perfect thing to see in there (this is a still I grabbed during).

The one thing they don't have in there are the early fantastic drawings he did. He could really draw and did some great work for women's mags in the 50's.

Though I was born of it, I'm an enemy of Pop.

Caught an endearing, and very entertaining 30th anniversary for a local guitar shop who put on a dozen or so bands doing Beatles covers. This kid nervously sang Here Comes the Sun. (note the B on the bass drum. Each drummer had to come up and use Ringo's set-up. That and the sound guy having no idea what would happen from one act to the next made a very smooth show all the more impressive).

Carnegie built 2,811 free libraries around the world! And here is the very first one ...

And here is its graphic novel collection (including Zippy! of all things, and plenty of Alan Moore) ...

I did a great deal of exploring in Pittsburgh and I wish I could share it all.

For instance, 20 years ago I drove through there, it was the year the first Burton Batman movie was coming out, and I thought that the city is exactly what Gotham should be based on, a deteriorating industrial giant covered in trees with radically variegated topography.

On that note, I went out to explore the abandoned steel mills on town. It turned out there was only one left that hadn't been turned into a mall, and an active one still under the USS banner (U.S. Steel).

Across the river from that USS plant is a theme park called Kennywood, which according to a hip old local (my age), used to be a great, free hang-out, but it's north of $25 admission now.

On my journey around back, I discovered this old railroad building and I'll wrap up with images from my journey into its mysteries.